Dialogue and Difference in the Middle Ages, Bristol Centre for Medieval Studies 22nd Annual Postgraduate Conference, University of Bristol, February 25–26, 2016

Dialogue and Difference is an interdisciplinary conference bringing together scholars from all fields to explore the ways in which cultural, social, political, religious, scientific and intellectual exchange and interaction unfolded throughout the Middle Ages. Dialogues took place both across borderlines and within the heart of medieval societies, in monasteries, universities, courts and market places as well as on battlefields and high-roads. How did these dialogues shape the societies of the Middle Ages, and how did new ideas, people and cultures interact with old? Did difference lead to conflict, or to coexistence? This conference aims to explore these issues across societies from medieval Europe, Byzantium, the Near East and beyond, and spanning from Late Antiquity to the 16th century. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• societies built on cultural, political and religious borders
• inter-religious dialogue and polemic
• the emergence of the university
• conquest and colonisation
• heresy and reform
• inter and intra-textual dialogues
• gender and the body
• technological or scientific developments
• conversion and assimilation
• material histories and the dialogue of artefacts